ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) UK chapter strongly condemned the incident in which Justice Athar Minallah was heckled in London, saying that the culprits “did not represent the party in any way.”
The condemnation was issued late into night after videos emerged of Justice Minallah being harassed and heckled in the streets of London.
Justice Minallah, a guest at the ‘Future of Pakistan Conference’ at the London School of Economics, faced harassment as he was escorted to a car by a group of people.
The hecklers chanted slogans in support of the PTI and against the army.
In response to Justice Minallah being heckled, the official account for PTI UK posted a statement by Jahanzeb Khan, the senior vice president of the party’s chapter. The post was also shared by the party’s official account and PTI Secretary General Omar Ayub Khan.
“PTI UK strongly condemns the treatment meted out towards honourable Justice Athar Minallah. Those individuals who did it do not represent the PTI, nor does PTI UK endorse any such behaviour,” the party’s chapter said.
Meanwhile, the statement attributed to Jahanzeb said,“ It has come to our attention that there are some notorious individuals who are often referred to as ‘PTI supporters’ by certain journalists sympathetic to the N league in London.“
He alleged that those journalists “actually collaborate with some of the N league journalists themselves”.
“These journalists deliberately orchestrate situations involving these individuals to create commotion whenever any government official from Pakistan visits London,” he said.
“They do this in order to capture videos and blame PTI, further spreading their negative narrative against the PTI. It is important to note that protests conducted by overseas Pakistanis and genuine PTI supporters only occur under the official call of PTI UK and its regional bodies,” Jahanzeb said.
